So there I was, texting with fellow columnist and Bon Vivant Kurt Schlichter (who, at the time, was referring to himself, in the third person, as K-Dawg. True story.) We were discussing the subject of my next column when an LA Times story appeared on my Facebook wall. "Five reasons to stay away from Texas right now." Excuse me, K-Dawg. I found my subject.
It wasn't a list of reasons not to move to Texas. Rather, it's like the LA Times copy editor and writer Paul Whitefield wanted desperately to do a hit piece on the Lone Star state, but reserved the right to change his mind, especially if he gets that manuscript sold! Fingers crossed, Paul!
The article is embarrassing; as if the LA Times just saw Buzzfeed for the first time and proclaimed, "Quick! Somebody make a .gif before anyone else realizes this stuff is out there!" (Unfortunately, there is no one at the LA Times who can make a .gif, nor who knows what a .gif is.)
The first reason is that Texas still doesn't allow abortion on demand, notwithstanding Democrat Wendy Davis' antics. Davis, you may recall, is a liberal state Senator who for 13 hours filibustered a bill to restrict abortions after 20 weeks and encouraged abortion advocates to bring jars of feces and urine to the statehouse. The bill passed a few weeks later and Governor Perry signed it into law. Davis is now a quasi-celebrity looking to make a run at Governor herself.
If she wins the governorship, then the article is dead on. Stay in California, or Illinois, or whichever pro-abortion, anti-business state you live in. But she won't, so don't let a smack down of pro-abortion forces keep you from moving.
The second reason is Governor Rick Perry himself - the three-term governor and former (current?) presidential candidate. The line the article uses:
Is Rick Perry the worst governor in America? Is this a trick question?
Fastest growth in the nation, far lower-than-average unemployment, elected three times and shot a coyote while out for a jog! Compare that to Governor Moonbeam (aka Jerry Brown) He wants a high speed rail to nowhere, unemployment is at 9%, and California has lost 3.4 million residents since 1990. Texas, however, has 8 of the 15 fastest growing cities in America!
You want a trick question? Try this - Is there any sexual deviant that Democrats won't run for public office?
Reason three in the LA Times list of whining and nonsense is executions. Yes, Texas has and utilizes the death penalty. Yes, honest people can have a conversation about its efficacy. But, you know who else has the death penalty? CALIFORNIA! In 2012, voters refused to end it. They voted for Obama, AND to keep the death penalty!! Now that's sick!
The list ends with nonsense, and joy in human suffering. Fourth on their list is weather. Weather, by the way, is the only thing that keeps people in California (specifically Southern California) and suffering through the ignorance of high taxation and state-sponsored citizen hate. Fifth on the list is "Things that go boom," a nauseating reference to an explosion of a fertilizer plant in West, Texas, that killed 14.
The author doesn't want you to move to Texas because government oversight of such a plant is horrible (even though it's not the reason for the explosion.) For "proof" of the oversight issue, he points to another explosion that took place in 1947. That's 66 years ago.
The LA Times (and Paul Whitefield) wants more abortions, and less financial freedom. The real reason Whitefield doesn't want you to go to Texas is that there isn't enough government, which is why people go there in the first place.